So like I said... I woke up on Monday after a wonderful weekend in the country feeling rather homesick for DePauw, and for my mom and grandma and sister, and really everyone that I wish could be here sharing some of these experiences with me. And it didn't really help my homesickness when I realized that on Wednesday I was turning 21 thousands of miles away from the one person I like to be with one my birthday: Mirandy. Maybe it is a twin thing, I don't know, but I like for us to be together on our birthday, or at least around out birthday. So I was feeling homesick, but then I was surprised on Tuesday by a mailbox full of cards from home, one from Mamaw, Mom, and Aunt Marita and Uncle Denny, and one from the Brauer family too! I know Mirandy tried to send me one too... but I understand also that getting the postage right can be a challenge if you are her (but I love you any way sissy.) And I also got to skype with my mom and Mirandy on the computer, and talk to Mamaw on the phone, which really made my homesickness much better.
I woke up on Wednesday morning, to realize that I was 21, an entire six hours before Mirandy. This was quite the discovery, considering that she is one minute older than I am, and she is always bragging about how she turns a year older first. Well this year, on the one birthday where it might matter a little bit, I got to turn 21 five hours and 59 minutes before her, thank you very much for the time difference! So there you go. It may not seem all that exciting, but I liked it... and she was just a little jealous I think!
But on Wednesday we also didn't have any official class which was nice, and we had a visit to the Ile de France Conseil Regional (see the pics I will put here) and I was greeted by Severine (one of the directors of the program) with a wonderful kiss, a big "Bonne Aniversaire" (Happy Birthday) and a little present, which was a book by Albert Camus. It was wonderful! We also got to have coffee and cookies inside the Conseil Regional which was a yummy birthday breakfast! When we finished our visit, we came outside to discover that the city was covered in a lovely little blanket of snow which was absolutely wonderful. We then tromped around and found an Indian restaurant for lunch (my favorite!) which had a lovely view of the Efiel Tower in the background! It was awesome. I then spent the afternoon with my class at the Centre Pompidou and with my favorite professor so far (Jerome) learning about the history of the building and seeing works of art from their permanent collection in from 1905-1960. It was a lovely afternoon, I couldn't have thought up a better way to have spent my birthday. Then after we were done with class or really our visit, several of my friends took me out to a bar/restaurant for a drink during happy hour, where I had a glass of wine, and felt very grown up thank you very much!
After our happy hour adventure, Matt and I went and found a Moroccan place for dinner on Rue Monsieur le Prince. This was where I wanted to come for dinner because Anne told us several stories last weekend about how this street was where she and Mac would go for dinner, and where she would spend a lot of time in Paris when she was in college. So we wandered around in the cold, up and down this little street, and I pretended for just a minute that I was there with Anne when she was in school... and I felt kind of silly, but it was nice to imagine it and dream of it too. (So thanks Anne for the great recommendation! You are wonderful!)
The place where we had dinner was so good, and I had couscous just like in Tunisia last year! Except even Alana could have handled this couscous since it wasn't spicy at all... which I would have liked, but it made for a wonderful birthday dinner anyway! Then I made my way home... a little tipsy on wine (which is OK since I am 21 now) and feeling wonderfully happy to have spent such a wonderful day with wonderful people in one of the most amazing cities in the world, which I have loved exploring, and look forward to exploring more in the next few months. Even though I missed Mirandy very much on our birthday, I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful day in Paris.
So while turning 21 is rather anti-climactic (as I imagine it is in the states too) I had some great wine, and a great day.
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